Leaders urge world to pay up to save nature as COP16 talks open

22/10/2024 6:42

        The nearly 200
        countries meeting in Colombia for the United Nations COP16
        summit must act urgently to mobilize billions of dollars to stop
        rapid nature destruction, U.N. leaders and national
        representatives urged as the talks opened on Monday.
        
        "The planet doesn't have time to lose," COP16 President
        Susana Muhamad told the opening meeting in Cali, southwest of
        Bogota.
        
        "We all agree that we are underfunded for this mission,"
        said Muhamad, who is also Colombia's environment minister.
        
        Two years earlier, countries adopted the landmark
        Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement with a
        list of 23 goals to help halt nature loss by 2030. COP16 is
        tasked with figuring out how to implement that agreement, which
        included finding $200 billion per year for conservation.